Description: Even more than most of David Lynch's
deliberately bizarre and idiosyncratic movies, Dune
is a "love-it-or-hate-it" affair. An ambitious, epic,
utterly mind-boggling--and, let's admit it, all-out
weird--adaptation of Frank Herbert's classic science fiction
novel, Dune remains one of the most controversial films in
the director's exceedingly provocative career. The story (if
Dune can be said to have just one story) is complex and
convoluted in the epic tradition; it has something to do
with political intrigue and a planet that is home to a
precious spice and gigantic sand worms. Think Shakespeare's
Henry IV with a dash of Tremors, and set in
another galaxy. But despite plenty of strangely whispered
voice-overs that explain the characters' thoughts (and
endlessly detailed exposition), storytelling is not really
among the film's strong points. There are, however, a lot of
memorably fantastic/grotesque images, an extraordinary cast,
and a soundtrack featuring Toto. I told you it was weird.
Among the stars are Kyle MacLachlan, Josť Ferrer, Dean
Stockwell, Brad Dourif, Sting, Kenneth McMillan, Patrick
Stewart, Sean Young, and Linda Hunt.

Dune is a huge, hollow, imaginative and cold sci-fi epic.
Visually unique and teeming with incident, David Lynch's film holds the
interest due to its abundant surface attractions but won't, of its own
accord, create the sort of fanaticism which has made Frank Herbert's
1965 novel one of the all-time favorites in its genre.

Set in the year 10,991, Dune is the story of the coming to power
of a warrior savior and how he leads the lowly inhabitants of the Dune
planet to victory over an evil emperor and his minions.

Lynch's adaptation covers the entire span of the novel, but simply
setting up the various worlds, characters, intrigues and forces at work
requires more than a half-hour of expository screen time.

Image : NOTE:The below
Blu-ray
captures were taken directly from the
Blu-ray
disc.

Although the same VC-1 encode
as the
previously released HD version - this must be a new transfer
as it takes up more file space than the entire capacity of
that, now defunct, format. Dune is over 25-years old now and
looks better than I expected in this 1080P rendering. It
blows away all the old DVD transfers (some of which were
atrocious). We should state that this is the theatrical
version not the longer "TV" version available on the
Extended Edition DVD. The image quality shows some minor grain
but detail advances tremendously and there are sporadic
sequences showing depth. This
is dual-layered with a strong bitrate but has some
imperfections beyond the 'dated' F/X.
There are rare speckles and some lesser noticeable
noise but overall I was impressed with the appearance.
Contrast exhibits healthy,
black levels - colors are always subdued - as they were in
production. This
Blu-ray
has a reasonably consistent feel with no dramatic black-marks
and I suspect that this will be the best it looks for home
viewing for quite a long time.

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY
CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

Audio :

The DTS-HD
Master 5.1 at 4547 kbps is robust enough but the mix can fall flat at
times. Still let's remember the original production time. This has some
decent bass and surround effects - just nothing like a modern action
film. Some moments are supported well and the score (Brian Eno, Toto
etc.) is crisp.

There are optional subtitles and my Momitsu
has identified
it as being a region FREE disc playable on
Blu-ray
machines worldwide.

Extras :

It's the same
45-minutes of featurettes as found on the last DVD edition (Deleted
Scenes with Intro by Raffaella De Laurentiis, Designing Dune,
Dune FX,
Dune Models + Miniatures and Dune Wardrobe Design) plus being a
Universal Blu-ray we get some D-Box Motion
Controls (BD-LIVE) and the My Scenes functionality. The troop of
die-hard fans would want more - or at least something dramatically new
like a commentary - but alas, there is nothing more - and it's all in
SD.

BOTTOM LINE: While intended or not - the campy feel suits the film so well after
a 1/4 century. It's fun to revisit this every once in a
while - I've never disliked Dune and it's easy to see
why it has a niche following. It carries a kind of
supercilious grandeur. And what about this cast? The
Blu-ray, in my opinion, supports the best presentation yet available.
Whether you feel the film is a failure or simply an
aberration from a gifted filmmaker - it has a weird appeal -
that I can't put my finger on... or shake. No new extras and
good audio make for a simplified package for the legion of
fans - who might never be satisfied with the completeness of
any edition.

Gary Tooze

April 14th, 2010

About the Reviewer:
Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film
since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was
around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my
horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out
new film experiences. I currently own approximately 9500
DVDs and have reviewed over 3500 myself. I appreciate my
discussion Listserv for furthering my film
education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver.
Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our
Amazon links.

Although I never wanted to become one of those guys who
focused 'too much' on image and sound quality - I
find HD is swiftly pushing me in that direction. So be
it, but film will always be my first love and I list my
favorites on the old YMdb site now accessible
HERE.